Ticket Bulletin

Here’s some good news for New York baseball fans. Yankees and Shea stadium are some of the cleanest in the nation. In other words, you can buy Mets tickets and a hot dog at the game with very little worry.

The report claims that Shea stadium had 58 health violations in 2007 which might not inspire confidence. But when you consider the fact that Angels stadium racked up 732, the Mets come off looking sparkling clean.

Of the Angels stadium, the Daily News reports:

“There was also a major vermin violation in April that forced the shutdown of a food stand.”

It further reports:

“The A’s McAfee Coliseum reported 493 violations, several of which came from food being exposed to “overhead leakage, dirt, insects, rodents and chemical contamination.”

The cleanest of all of the stadiums was the Colorado Rockies home, Coors Field, which only showed 16 violations.

So how is all of this supposed to make us feel? It’s like those reports that find that only .05% of our food is in fact rat feces, something that’s apparently supposed to reassure us. Yay!

I still don’t like the idea that there would ever be an incidence of violation of any health code in any organization distributing food. But it appears that both Shea and Yankees stadium are making great efforts to minimize the risks.

Key to the Yankees franchise selling tickets is having star players and leaders. This is exemplified in Derek Jeter.

In an interview with Steve Serby of the New York Post, he reveals that he’s ready to make the big commitment of marriage, if he finds the right girl. He discusses many other topics, from his inspirations as an athlete and aspirations of owning a ball club.

Jeter credits his mother for a lot of the guiding principles for his life. He was not allowed to use the word “can’t.” He describes her as the ultimate optimist. He was implored to outwork everyone.

Jeter describes his desire to own his own ball club. Serby tried to see if he’d be willing to own the Yankees, to which Jeter said that he’d need a big discount to be able to afford it.

He also talks about letters he gets from Iraq:

“It’s an unbelievable feeling to know that someone’s over there fighting for our country, and yet they find the time to write to me here at Yankee Stadium. It puts a lot of things in perspective, but also makes you appreciate the position you’re in, in terms of playing for this organization . . . to get a chance to provide entertainment for people.”

When all is said and done, Jeter comes across as a pretty charming guy. Who ever snags him as a husband is going to make a bigger catch than he’s ever made in his career as shortstop.

For the timespan from May 5 through May 12, the following events were the most popular on www.SelectATicket.com

1. Wicked Tickets
2. South Pacific
3. Cat On A Hot Tin Roof
4. New York Red Bulls Tickets
5. Neil Diamond

And there you have it for this past week. Not surprising that there are three Broadway shows as last week’s weather in New York was perfect for a night out on the town.

The movie star system has been part and parcel to the entire industry since its inception. And it’s vital. Because a movie basically has one weekend to succeed. If it doesn’t the movie will likely not make money

Studios build up actors’ careers as recognizable brands that carry over from movie to movie. It’s always an enormous risk to hire a no-name actor for a big movie requiring a big payoff.

This poses problems for musicals. The perfect actor to sell the movie may not be a Broadway level singer. Sometimes you can fudge, and it works, as was demonstrated by Johnny Depp’s wonderful performance in “Sweeney Todd.” But Johnny Depp is sort of an exception to the rule. It doesn’t matter what the role, if you can get Depp you go with him.

But other actors have been less successful. “Chicago” and “Moulin Rouge” come to mind. Those starts were okay but they didn’t blow me away like many stage performers might have been able to do.

I’m reminded of Julie Andrews not getting cast for “My Fair Lady” because she wasn’t a big name. She then got cast for “Mary Poppins” and won an Oscar. My fear is that there may be some potential stars like Julie Andrews that will never get their chance in the current movie climate.

Broadway tickets sales suffers from this trend. Because the more successful musicals and Broadway performers are on screen, the more they’ll be able to draw people to the theater.

The Mets had a tough Monday and Tuesday this week. Bart Hubbuch from the New York Post suggests that poor offense was to blame. So bad was their batting performance on Monday against the Dodgers, the team was prompted to participate in an extra batting practice.

But the extra practice was to no avail. They lost again 5-4 on Tuesday. And they had no excuse. Bily Witz of the New York Times proclaims:

“Starter Hiroki Kuroda looked as though he were offering up batting-practice fastballs. Other Dodgers bobbled ground balls, loafed in the outfield and wandered off the bases into outs.”

In another article today, Witz suggests that another source of trouble is their defense, primarily their depth in pitchers. Santana has proven worth his money. John Maine and Nelson Figeuroa have been great. But Olver Perez and Mike Pelfrey are not looking as hot.

Witz points out:

“Pérez has given up 17 runs in 13 innings over that span, and Pelfrey has allowed 14 runs in 15 1/3 innings in his last three starts.”

This has also put a strain on the bullpen. Consistently going early to the backups makes things challenging to pull out consistent wins.

The Mets have challenges, whether it’s pitching or hitting. But let’s hope that they figure it out and make the appropriate adjustments. We want to buy tickets for Mets games where they win.

I’m sure that New York is happy that it isn’t relying on Roger Clemens to sell Yankees tickets any longer. The former Yankees pitcher recently was forced to deny, vehemently, and inexplicably, in front of congress, any use of performance enhancing drugs. It was hard to believe.

Now, with allegations that he had an affair with a 15-year-old country singer, Mindy McCready, when he was a 28-year-old Boston Red Sox ace, married, and the father of two children, Clemens integrity is clearly in question. He was forced to apologize Monday for mistakes in his personal life, but he’s added clarification to the claims, only increasing speculation.

No doubt, some of the claims made are probably inaccurate, as claims go, but there is also truth to the fact that Clemens has not been the sterling example of honesty that he tried to portray himself as during the congressional hearings a few months ago.

This sheds doubt on his testimony about performance enhancing drugs. If he’s willing to lie to his wife and children about his sexual behavior, what would stop him from lying to everyone else about drug use?

It’s a difficult issue for the superstar, who’s legacy as one of baseball’s greatest pitchers is in danger. The consequences could prove tragic for everyone involved. Cheating never helps anyone.

I don’t know about you, but I love a good battle of the bands. The format, of course, provides for a show that gets progressively better as the better bands play more and more frequently. And there’s usually a couple of bands that everyone enjoys that you get to hear battle it out at the end.

I also like Broadway shows. I like the big dramatic musical with all of it’s over the top pop glory. There’s nothing like live Broadway Theater and in recent years, the world of rock has been merging onto the stage, like two well suited lovers.

So you can imagine my interest when I heard about a Battle of the Broadway Bands. Apparently, many Broadway performers also have side bands. And I’m just guessing that they’re probably pretty good. For example, take Albinokid, the band by Rent star Anthony Rapp. This talented singer, actor, and performer takes his Broadway experience, and tries to translate it into a rock show.

Rapp, with other well-known Broadway performers will bring their talents to The Zipper Factory, 336 West 37th Street in Manhattan, on May 17th for what may prove to be one of the best Battle of the Bands you’ve ever seen. You can order tickets at www.nymf.org. Then, if you’re interested in seeing these rockers show off their stuff in Broadway musical form, click on this link for Broadway tickets online.

You gotta’ love New York for providing amazing entertainment.

Another week has gone by already and we have the 5 hottest events from SelectATicket.com for your enjoyment!

Check out the list this week as there are some interesting additions and deviations from the usual list of Broadway, concert and sporting event tickets:

1. Neil Diamond Tickets
2. Philadelphia Phillies Tickets
3. Bruce Springsteen Tickets
4. Monty Python’s Spamalot on Broadway
5. Passing Strange The New Musical

So those are the top events people were looking for during the final week of April 2008 and the start of May.

Thank you for reading TicketBulletin.com and be sure to return again next week to find out what people are interested in when they visit SelectATicket.com.

If there has ever been a silly controversy, it’s the recent uproar over Carlos Delgado not making a curtain call after a standing ovation for his performance against the Atlanta Braves on Sunday.

They wanted him to return to the field and tip his hat to the fans. On one hand, it might have been a nice gesture given the fact that he’s been booed more times any recent Mets player. And two home runs aren’t anything to laugh at. He deserved the applause.

But he felt that it wasn’t one of those moments that deserved the curtain call. He said that if it had been a clinching game of a pennant race or the World Series, then yes, it would have certainly been a moment deserving of a grand gesture.

Maybe it was the right moment. Maybe it wasn’t. I guess it’s all a matter of what the fans think and expect, and clearly he didn’t judge their expectations correctly.

But there’s a part of me that’s got to side with Delgado. Everyone expects big moments all of the time. Have you noticed how pretty much every concert you go there’s going to be an encore? And if the performers are school aged children, you better believe there’s going to be a standing ovation.

Perhaps Delgado has a better bead on what’s appropriate than the general public does. Which is why I say this is a silly controversy. I hope that the ticket buying fans of the Mets will hand him another olive branch the next time he has a big moment. And hopefully he’ll be able to read their expectations better. But until then, it’s a silly issue.

Jorge Posada could not start in the Yankees’ game against the Cleveland Indians. Chien-Ming Wang would have to face the team as starter. This was the team that proved that his sinker was not invincible back in the playoffs last year.

Wang, not be undone again, switched up his speed. The result—a 1-0 win for Wang the Yankees, ending a three game losing streak, putting the Yankees at an even .500 mark for the season.

Chamberlain also contributed by striking out two of the three batters. He attributed his strong play with a lot of rest in between games, preventing problems from his left hamstring which irritated him last week.

Rivera ended the game with a powerful two strikeouts, solidifying the win.

Sabathia played well against the Yankees as well, limiting the Yankees to only one run, making it a tough win for New York.

Girardi is quoted in the Daily News as saying:

“It was unbelievable. You need to win games like this, because your offense isn’t always going to score runs.”

Thankfully, the Yankee pitchers were up the challenge, keeping the Indians scoreless in a tough competition. This much needed win will reassure Yankee ticket buyers that this is a season for cheering.